Born as the seventh month dies
by Acop
Summary: AU. Like Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy birth was scheduled for the end of July. This little difference changed everything.


AN: Harry Potter is the property of J.K Rowling. I am only playing in her world for fun.

* * *

"And never come back here, you karkling spying mongrel!"

The door closed with a sharp bang, leaving me alone as I laid on the pavement, breath knocked out by being violently thrown out from the Hog's head inn by its owner.  
I sighed as I carefully got back on my feet, checking myself for major injuries. I found nothing more than scraps and blues which would hurt like Morgana's hell tomorrow. It could be worse. This spying business for the Dark Lord was proving more and more disappointing, especially since my Lord was becoming erratic. I was no psychologist but as a spy, I knew enough on human nature to smell something fishy going on. Paranoia, unwillingness to listen to his most loyal lieutenants, torture of his own followers which was increasing exponentially... Something was definitely not right with my Lord.  
Truly, this civil war was getting to all of us, with the two sides at a stalemate. My Lord was desperate to find the information which would tip the balance to our side. Desperate enough to send his best spy overlook the meeting between Hogwarts' Headmaster and a potential future divination professor.

I admittedly was not on my best game tonight. My Lord was relentlessly sending me on spying missions while asking me to brew many potions for our group. I was tired. This mission was a joke. I was wasting my time when I could be in my bed resting. So yes, definitely not on my best.  
I had been a bit obvious in my eavesdropping, however Alberforth only threw me out so brutally because he was Dumbledore´s brother. He did not even check for my mark as proof. That would have been rude but so easy to do and then call on the Aurors to arrest me. They would not have found any proof of wrongdoing on my part, but I trusted they had methods they were not too shy to use on an alleged Dark followers. Of course, they would have needed to see past my own glamour spell. The spell I had only shared with Lucius and Narcissa. The only spell I knew able to hide the dark mark from others. It had been surprisingly hard to develop. I was far less naive today than I had been when I was marked. The mark was not only a sign of belonging to the same group, nor was it only the way for our Lord to contact us. It was embedded with dark spells I had yet to completely identify.  
I thought I was no the only one asking myself questions. Regulus Black was looking more and more reluctant to act along our group. The fool. I would warn him he was being obvious except it might endanger me if it was a ruse. I didn't trust Blacks. Except Narcissa, but she was a Malfoy now.

Anyway, Sybil Trelawney, prospective Hogwarts divination professor was a fraud. The whole world knew it. And my Lord had sent me to eavesdropped on her job interview with Hogwarts' Headmaster. At least, she had upped her game tonight and acted out some Prophecy. I had only heard the beginning before my enforced leave but it was as rubbish as any other. Really, who could believe in Prophecies? All serious studies showed Prophecies were self-fulfilled at best, or dubiously interpreted to fit facts after they had happened at worst.

According to this new Prophecy, the only possible destroyer of the Dark Lord would soon be . The exact words were "_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not…and either must die at the hand of the other because neither can live while the other survives._"

Rubbish foolishness. But it might save me from the Cruciatus one more time.  
I apparated back to my home, eager to escape the humidity soaking through my clothes and more than ready for sleep. Thankfully, my Lord only expected my report tomorrow evening. As I prepared for bed, I wondered how the prophecy would be interpreted.

_The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches._ Was the mysterious saviour supposed to already be born and in the process of coming to England, too young or not ready to fight yet, or was his birth to happen soon? Prophecies were never clear, an obvious ploy to be able to make the facts fit afterwards.  
_Born as the seventh month dies..._ Clearly, it meant this saviour was born – or would be – at the end of July.

My blood froze at the thought. Narcissa Malfoy, my best friend's wife, was pregnant. I was the future child's godfather. She was due in July if there were no complications. If the prophecy was interpreted as to be born, would my Lord and comrades not only debase themselves to killing babies, but also to harm some of ours?  
The thought was ludicrous. To kill a child. An innocent. One of ours' own. And yet, my Lord had changed. We all had.  
Would he sacrifice a baby because of a prophecy?

Lucius and Narcissa's child could die because of me. If I spoke of what I had overheard. If this prophecy was believed in and interpreted the wrong way...  
I could not take the risk.  
But Dumbledore might tell. Who could guess how the old coot would react to Trelawney's act?

I almost punched a wall when I realised something else. My once childhood friend and only love, Lily Potter, was with child too. Her husband and herself were very active against us. I had not spoken to her in years, but I seemed to remember from various gossip that her child was due around the same time as Lucius'. She would fight for her child. She would die for her child. The child of two infamous fighters against the Dark Lord. Dumbledore would love the symbol. He was going to tell other people of this prophecy, I felt it deep in my gut. it would not matter to my Lord how Dumbledore interpreted the prophecy. He would take no risk. Merlin, the bumbling idiot might try to sow discord in our ranks and raise our Lord suspicion by focusing obviously on Lucius' child.

I needed to talk with Lucius. Or Narcissa. Both of them really. But it might be better to begin with Lucius' wife. We would have more weight together. For all his shrewdness, Lucius was remarkably loyal.  
I slept badly that night, visions of Narcissa's cries as her child was killed in front of her playing in my mind, Lucius condemned to watch as some of the others prevented him from intervening as the Dark Lord killed his heir.

I was at Malfoy's manor at first light. Narcissa was waiting for me with breakfast, obviously worried to anyone who knew her. I knew we had almost half-an-hour before Lucius emerged from his bed. To my relief, she did not dismissed my concerns. Narcissa was cunning as a Black but with the clarity of mind of a Malfoy. As we talked, we admitted to each other behind veil words that our Lord current behaviour was a disappointment. We would not lose the Malfoy heir to his delusions.  
I let Narcissa explained the situation to Lucius. She always found the way to convey the gravity of the points she wished to make. To my surprise, Lucius did not need to be convinced of the foolishness of the prophecy or the need to hide it from our Lord. He showed Narcissa and I a diary Lord Voldemort has entrusted him with, with instruction to keep it safe and well hidden. It seemed quite harmless. None of us were fool. I could feel it at the edge of my Occlumency Shields, waiting for a breach to insidiously gain entrance.

We took the diary to one of the secure rooms underground, protected by ancient and heavy wards. We cast many spells at it. The result was horrifying. It was a Horcrux. A part of our Lord's soul. It made him immortal. It explained my Lord change of behaviour as well as his new propensity for Crucio. He had always been impatient.  
We each downed a glass of Scottish whisky when Lucius told us Lord Voldemort had given precious objects to others from our group. One Horcrux was rashness. More than one was pure madness..  
The Malfoy library and its many portraits were helpful, even more when they learnt someone had dared create multiple Horcruxes. At the end of the day, we reached the conclusion that to protect Narcissa and Lucius' future child, Lord Voldemort had to die. I was shocked when I felt relieved at this decision. I saw the same feeling reflected in Narcissa´s and Lucius' eyes.  
Through our research, we had discovered four ways to destroy Horcruxes. Fiendfyre, fire created by a powerful spell but mastered by few. Basilisk' poison, rare and costly potion ingredient. Yazi Dragon's shrills, which required to have one of these dragon on call. Fèng Huáng's cry, which also required to have one of these birds ready. Our best bet was to use Fiendfyre or Basilisk poison. To my relief, every sources of information agreed that the destruction of a Horcrux would not alert the main soul.  
Our main worry was to be certain we destroyed all the Horcruxes before confronting Lord Voldemort. To be honest, we had no plan of confronting him openly, poison would suffice and be a lot less detrimental to our own health.

Time was our enemy. If the Dark Lord heard about the Prophecy from someone else than I, Crucio would be the least of my worries. On the other end, if I told him about it now, how swiftly would he act on it? July was only two months away...  
Lucius thought we had to tell our Lord to ensure my safety. Narcissa was torn. She wanted to take the chance he would not hear of it. But if he did, it might give him more incentive to act against Lucius and her.

In the end, I decided it was safest to tell him. My Lord was even more enthusiastic that I had imagined. As if I had finally handed him the key to our victory. He was truly mad. He insisted on calling a full meeting right away and I had to bear two hours of nerve-grating tension and obsequiousness from the others.

Afterwards, I quietly invited Regulus to have a drink with me. I had not told Lucius and Narcissa of my intentions. I only had my instincts to trust. It turned out Regulus already knew about Horcruxes. Well, Horcrux. Our Lord has borrowed his House Elf for a secret mission. The creature had been so traumatized when returned to Regulus that he had investigated. He found a cave with an object in the middle, protected by Darks spells and creatures. The spells had not prevented identification of the object. He had thought he had found the one Horcrux created by our Lord. When I told him of the others we knew of, he took a shot of whisky then asked how he could help.  
He had already wanted out after all. And Narcissa was his family favourite member. Together, we went to Malfoy Manor. Lucius scolded me for not warning them but Narcissa was overjoyed at her cousin involvement. He was her favourite Black.

After more research, we found out Horcruxes main desire was to be reunited with their main soul to be whole again. It was actually easy to use the diary to find the number and the location of the other Horcruxes.  
Aside from the two we knew about, there were three more. One was located in the Gaunt shack, a dreary wooden shack which used to be home to the last Gaunt House member. The other was in Gringotts, and we were pretty sure it was more precisely located inside Bellatrix vault. The last one was inside Hogwarts.  
Retrieving the Horcrux from the Gaunt shack, a golden ring, as well as the one from the cave, a locket with Slytherin armouries, was easy enough once we had taken the right precaution to protect ourselves from the Horcrux ensnaring our minds. We were not thoughtless Gryffindors who rushed ahead, our many detections spells, protective runes and wide range of Dark spells were enough to deal with our Lord traps and avoid triggering his alarm spell. We destroyed the diary, the ring and the locket in the manor secure room which had became our headquarters, combining Regulus', Lucius' and my Fiendfyre. Then, exhausted, we went to bed. I was happier than ever to have my personal room in the manor. Lucius had insisted that as his best friend, it was my right to always be welcome in his home. I seldom made use of it because I liked my solitude, but I indulged in my room luxuries a few times a year.

When I woke up the next morning, I thought we would spend the day stuck on finding a solution to gain entrance to Gringotts and Hogwarts. I was wrong. Regulus' House Elf, Kreacher, was apparently very loyal to his master and eager to please him. In return, Regulus was devoted to his House Elf to the point of telling him of the Horcruxes and asking him for advice. Kreacher had been only too happy to contact both Hogwarts House Elves and Gringotts Goblins. None of the two species were fond of Horcruxes. In fact, it seemed only a few Wizards were stupid enough to make some. As a result, both Goblins and House Elves considered it their duty to procure us the Horcruxes. Their destruction was as easy as the previous ones.  
From then on, only our Lord himself remained. Narcissa, Lucius, Regulus and I once more discuss the necessity of eliminating him. We all agreed on it. Our Lord was not the ambitious but wise man we had thought him to be, so many Horcruxes were proof of it. We also agreed that poison was the surest way to kill him. I knew he would soon call our group to boast about the prophecy and tell us what he had deduced from it. There would be a grand feast as well as Muggles to torture, one of the distasteful hobbies I was eager not to witness anymore. Our Lord would eat and drink as much as any of us. We only needed to put the poison in his food.

The others let me decide on the poison I thought was the best. I was the youngest potion master in history after all. I already had several deadly potions ready which I had invented without telling anyone. As most Slytherins, I knew to be prepared for all eventualities. Once more, we made used of Kreacher's abilities to put the potion into our Lord's plate only. My potion worked like a charm, which was no surprise to me but a relief nonetheless. Lord Voldemort fell asleep during dessert and never woke up. When Bellatrix tried to shake him awake, his body dissolved into dust. At the same time, a searing pain went through my arm. It lasted seconds or hours, but afterwards, I felt as if a veil had been lifted from me. I felt more rested and alert than I had been for a long time. When I looked at my left arm, the ugly mark had disappeared.

Narcissa, Lucius, Regulus and I played our part, acting out surprise, shock and dismay. It was easy when we had not anticipated the mark disappearance, too focused on our plan. It was chaos for several moments, enough time for someone to decide to call the Auror. I suspected the Greengrass to have seized upon this opportunity to break up the group cleanly. There was no love lost between them and the most fanatics of our group. There were no more marks for the authors to find, but they opened an inquiry for murder which allowed them enough leeway to search homes, vaults and find Dark artefacts, with the surprising cooperation of Goblins.  
After this purge, many were sent to Azkaban for crimes going from possession of dark artefacts to torture and murder, with use of the unforgivable in between. Surprisingly to most, Lord Voldemort death was attributed to overused of magic when no other cause was discovered. Dust was surprisingly hard to analyse. My potion did not leave trace anyway. Lucius, Narcissa, Regulus and I were not among the ones convicted, even though the Aurors tried their best.  
During the procedures, in addition to Lucius' lawyer, I had the surprise to benefit from a goblin lawyer as well. Afterwards, the four of us were informed we had gained the particular Gringotts statute of Mitr, which gave us advantages in business proposals and other matters.

All the excitement was a bit much for Narcissa. She was exhausted and went into labour almost two months earlier than due. Lucius and I spent a sleepless night waiting for the baby, lending her our hands to maim while she went through labour. I had never thought women beneath men. I realised they were far more resilient than any of us.

The sun was barely rising when the Malfoy heir, Draco Abraxas Malfoy, gave his first cry. I was told Draco was tinier than most babies but in perfect health. The healer gave a potion regimen to follow for the next two weeks which I promised Narcissa and Lucius I would brew myself. Only the best for my godson. Otherwise, there were no particular precautions to take despite Draco early birth. The whole Malfoy family was back to the manor in the early afternoon. I was asked to remain several days, which I accepted with pleasure. I enjoyed the peace and contentment of spending time with the three persons I cared the most for. I had not realised how much I had lost faith in our Lord until the weight of answering his demands had disappeared. Draco was a small wonder. So small I refused to take him into my arms from fear of breaking him or letting him fall. After one week, Narcissa rolled her eyes and plopped my godson into my arms, Lucius arranging them into a proper baby-holding position with a fond smile.

As I held Draco awkwardly, I realized I had never loved before. The protective feeling I had held for Mother was nothing. I might have loved her when I was younger and ignorant of my unwanted presence, but if I had, the feeling was long forgotten and shredded at the bottom of my heart.  
My admiration and wistful longing for Lily paled and lost their fire when confronted to the pure feeling of fulfilment which overwhelmed myself when I looked into Draco's crystal blue eyes.  
At this moment, any last lingering regret for killing our Lord disappeared. My godson was safe. Nothing else mattered.


End file.
